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Tulwar restoration...

Hello All,

An interesting tulwar restoration just landed on the bench. Having never done it before, I'm curious to know if anyone here has dismounted a tulwar hilt from the blade? Given that it's clearly fixed in the old, traditional manner using epoxy resin (no pin visible), will the simple application of heat do the trick?

As Jens says, a pin is likely.
You need to look centrally on the hilt level with the quillions.
A heat gun should produce more than enough heat (If the resin is the correct original resin). I'd try using it on the low setting on the blade near the hilt and then see if you can wiggle the blade free. with luck you could reinsert the blade and reuse the original resin.
But beware, if it was rehilted in recent years and anything like epoxy was used, it's going to be unaffected by moderate heat. Whatever the resin used is, I'd err on the side of caution and assume that the fumes will be wildly toxic!

But without seeing what you are dealing with, it's difficult to give an informed opinion.
Can you slap up some pictures for us?

here are a few pics. Missing it's knuckle bow and pommel disc. Handle is two-piece, brazed construction. No evidence of pinning apparent. Since intact tulwar hilts are fairly common, complete replacement would seem to be the best course of action.

What exactly is the reason for removing the blade from the hilt, is it loose? Is there any evidence that there ever was a knuckle bow and pommel disc? There are swords from other cultures that are similar to tulwar hilts, can you take a picture of the whole sword?

Lets see the whole blade Mark
As I'm sure you know, the resin looks original.
I think that if the blade is worth cleaning up to any extent then I'd want a complete hilt.
As you say the disk is missing.
The knucklebow is a slightly different fish!
I've got a tulwar with a fully silvered hilt where the hilt clearly was made with a bow, but it's been carefully removed before the hilt was covered in thick silver.
So the bow could have been removed before the hilt was put on the blade.

pics of blade, as requested. As you may agree, the blade is quite substantial and certainly worth the re-hilting effort. As it sits, one could argue that it would be quite a bit easier to replace the entire hilt than re-weld a replacement disc (the results of which could be dubious at best). About the blade... I love its broad geometry - and the eyelash marking we've seen on so many kukris

I had a couple of Tulwars marked to the Bikiner armoury that had similar shaped blades.
Brutally effective heavy choppers!
I agree with you, new hilt is the way to go.
I'd be interested to test the blade for activity as well.

this is good advice !
heat gun and leather gloves and it should wiggle loose ( if not, then you have a pin to knockout )

can you see any hints of it being a laminated steel ? it would be sweet if it was
save the resin, should be able to reuse it

Originally Posted by Gene Wilkinson

As Jens says, a pin is likely.
You need to look centrally on the hilt level with the quillions.
A heat gun should produce more than enough heat (If the resin is the correct original resin). I'd try using it on the low setting on the blade near the hilt and then see if you can wiggle the blade free. with luck you could reinsert the blade and reuse the original resin.
But beware, if it was rehilted in recent years and anything like epoxy was used, it's going to be unaffected by moderate heat. Whatever the resin used is, I'd err on the side of caution and assume that the fumes will be wildly toxic!

But without seeing what you are dealing with, it's difficult to give an informed opinion.
Can you slap up some pictures for us?